This Dreamland
by The-Jade-Snake
Summary: RikuxOC A nameless duo of friends get sucked into the worlds of Kingdom Hearts and thrown in and about in the chaos of Sora, Kairi and Riku. What are they going to do? And more importantly, how are they going to get back to their own world?
1. Prologue

* * *

KH: This _**Dreamland**_

By Syn871

Characters:

Mab

Tai

Nobu

_Dreaming of the stars up high_

_That speak to me in secret sighs_

_Drifting on a breeze_

_Only I can feel and hear..._

Usually at lunch time, the cafeteria was crowded with loud and bustling students, searching for their friends and sharing the latest gossip. But this lunch on Thursday, it was nearly empty with a few people here and there lounging around. There was a miniature festival or fair going on outside in celebration of Halloween. The lunch ladies had left a while ago and so the building was left unsupervised. With everyone doing their own thing and minding their business, in corner of the room secluded from the rest of the world was a 14-year-old girl scribbling away in a black sketchbook.

_Could it be the sacred wind_

_That's calling me to now begin_

_To walk into the dark_

_Carrying the light of tomorrow...?_

"Stop moving, will you...?" she murmured to herself as she constantly looked back and forth from her paper to the boy outside the window. Apparently, she was drawing her crush. A long, black-haired boy casually leaned against the brick wall with his backpack next to his feet as he kept conversing with his buddies. Giving in, she slammed her pencil on the table and glared at her drawing so far which showed Owen, her crush, with a headless body.

"Would you care to explain what in the world that is?" came a familiar voice. She looked up and saw a blonde-haired friend of hers who had sat right across from her while dropping his bag on the floor. She grinned at him and laughed.

Without speaking, she slid her sketchbook across the table to him and he grabbed it to look at it closer. Raising an eyebrow at her, he searched the building for the source of her obvious interest. His eyes landed on Owen who was now quietly speaking on his cell phone. Slightly frowning, he looked back and forth from the papers he was holding to the talking Owen. Finally agreeing it was him with a coy smile; he looked back at her and whispered, "No way." With a toothy grin, she nodded vigorously along with a small blush.

_Beating of the wings up high_

_Beyond the earth, beyond the sky_

_Come on, don't hesitate_

_Don't look back—we've got to go now..._

"Yup, it's him. Oh, isn't he great?! He's just so _glamorous_!" she said animatedly with hearts in her eyes. Noting a bit of drool on the corner of her mouth, he simply rolled his eyes and handed back her picture-filled book.

But, you have to admit, Owen really is handsome! With those dark, brooding eyes and that dark mob of silky hair. She longed run her hands through it. But she doubted she'd ever have a chance with him. Not ever! Painfully, she returned to her drawing. Who would ever fall in love with a plain-looking girl like her with barely any fashion sense? It's not like she had the money.

"You're usually outside, what're you doing here?" he asked, roughly poking her forehead to get her attention. She didn't answer right then but merely glanced at him and sketched a few lines on her drawing so far as she hummed nonchalantly.

After a moment of ponder, she answered, "Well, supposedly, I'm working on a World Cultures project with my assigned partner but I doubt he's coming..." She paused for a moment to debate whether Owens head was too large or too small. Deciding it was dramatically big, she erased it in embarrassment. "I _was_ gonna go outside with Jen and Rudy but I then I saw Owen and you know how I get when I'm excited. I gotta draw or daydream."

He laughed. He gazed at her with a cheerful grin on his face as she enthusiastically sketched a life-like drawing of her unrequited love. He had known her since sixth grade and still she remained absent-minded, dense, tends to think too much, and maybe a bit slow. He sweat-dropped at the last bit. He noticed her how her sketchbook was decorated by posters, stickers, postcards, drawings, and sketches of Riku from KH. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. She was obsessed with that fictional emo guy.

"So, how did _you_ find me?" she asked, the sound of lead feverishly brushing against paper echoing throughout the lunchroom.

"I didn't," he answered, resting his chin on his hand. "I came here to eat but the ladies are gone. But I saw you so I came to visit." He then glanced at his friend's crush who was silently staring at the schools comedians perform; clearly knowing he had a girlfriend already. He flicked his eyes at an oblivious girl he called his friend and chuckled to himself.

Hearing his low chuckle, she raised her gaze at him and looked at him as if he grew an extra head. "What's so funny?"

With a smile playing on his lips that said 'I-know-something-you-don't', he just stared back at her, teasing her with that taunting smile. She frowned at him, taken aback.

"What're you trying to say?" she inquired. He simply shook his head and turned his attention back to Owen.

"If it's about Owen already having a girl, I know. I know her and she's real nice to me. I feel bad that I'm crushing on her man." His all-knowing smirk faded away into that of annoyance. "Jen called me a back-stabber and somehow I feel that she's right. And Rudy told me this morning that Owen and his girl broke up. Can you believe it?! This is my chance!" He smacked his forehead at her stupidity.

Turning to look at her, he frowned at her, opposing her grin, and said, "It's not that easy! What if he's still not over it?! You can't just go up to him and ask him out right after his break-up!"

She eyed him with a blank look. "Do you honestly think I'm that stupid and dense?"

He gave her a surprised and questioning look. "Everything you just said," she began, "I know, okay? I _have_ thought about it. Of course I'm not gonna' ask him out _now_. And besides, I'm way too shy and embarrassed."

Furrowing his eyebrows, he said, "Sorry, it's just that sometimes you're a bit careless." She nodded, fully agreeing. _Now_ he regretted calling her dense and slow. She was actually pretty intelligent and quick-thinking. Just not at times like these. "And I know how much you like him. Although it's more like an obsession with the poor guy," he added the last part. She glared at him with an annoyed pout of her lips.

_Don't fear,_

_You'll be safe from now on_

_Morning sky watching over all..._

Almost out of nowhere, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first lunch hour. At the sound of it, she yelped and jumped, causing her to flail her arms like a dork, losing her balance, and in the end, gravity prevailed. She fell on her back with a thud with him watching the whole thing. He burst out laughing. He could imagine gravity in human form doing a victory dance.

Like the loyal companion he is, he stood from his seat and helped her up. He laughed when she had swirls in her eyes. She grinned embarrassedly and picked up her backpack as he sighed at her absent-mindedness.

She laughed nervously and nodded. "So, I'll see you?"

He grinned his toothy smile and nodded, "Yeah, tomorrow."

"Hey, hurry it up! Let's go!" The duo's attention snapped to the door and saw two girls waving at her to hurry it up. She waved back at enthusiastically jogged over to them and they left, leaving him with her sketchbook. He smirked evilly to himself and flipped through it.

"Interesting...," he whispered to himself. It was mostly filled with Riku, fantasy creatures, video game characters, Gaara, Owen, her girl friends, Naruto, Neji, her sisters, Riku, fairies, Owen, Orlando Bloom, her brothers, Sasuke, and did he mention Riku? And Owen? He laughed quietly to himself. He knew she tended to fall in love with guys who aren't even real. He found it odd she liked somebody _solid_ like Owen.

Contentedly, he put it in his back pack and left for class. He'd give it to her tomorrow.

_Deep inside so silently_

_My heart must beat_

_Deep inside of me_

_Memories flickering and shimmering on_

_Endlessly..._

That night, she lay on her back, staring at her room's blue ceiling in her sleeping attire. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Kingdom Hearts were real...?" she muttered to herself. "With Riku and the beaches of Destiny Islands... And with cute school uniforms... I would've loved to meet Cloud..." She laughed giddily and rolled to her side and grabbed her mp3 player from the night stand, and putting it on, she began surfing through the list of songs. Finally finding her preferred song, she clicked it and it began to play just as she left it the night before as her eyelids drooped closed.

_Keeping close to the path,_

_Morning sky watching over all..._

He turned off the TV and, with his hands behind his head; he laid back and gazed at the ceiling with a soft frown. Bored out of his mind, he absent-mindedly reached down and picked up his friend's sketchbook she had left behind.

One by one, he slowly journeyed through the smudged pages of creative and emotional drawing. The first one was like the opening curtain of a play which had her name in fancy letters. He continued turning the pages, once in a while pausing to stare at one. Then he came across a sketch of Riku himself staring straight at the viewer. There was something in his eyes that he couldn't quite put his finger on but it sort of resembled anger, frustration, maybe? Tilting his head to the side, he imagined it must be loneliness, confusion, or maybe they—_he—_were, was just... lost.

He turned the page and found himself staring at a young girl floating in mid-air. He eyed the background whereas it was just black and empty and her hair flowed like she was sleeping underwater. But the way she just floated like she had nothing worry about made him think.

_Moving over endless mountains up so high_

_Walking to the light_

_Your heart will see the path_

_And you will find the way_

_Just wait and see..._

"You really get the mood of your art, don't you...?" he murmured to himself. Sighing, he closed it, and setting it on the floor; he turned over and fell into a dreamless sleep although he never noticed his fingers slightly touching the sketchbook.

"But how can you still smile when you know your parents fight every night...?" he whispered, mostly to himself. But he knew her pain, not having parents giving you the attention you deserve. Sure her parents were there but yet they weren't there, you know? And his were long gone so it was kind of the same thing. At least she had her other seven brothers and sisters. His younger sister couldn't even talk yet.

He closed his eyes and what he saw was intoxicating. Grinning smugly, he shifted into a more comfortable position. A figure on fire was standing right in front of him and motioning for him to follow. But he shook his head. _I'm tired..._ Sure, he might be on fire but it didn't burn him at all. All you could see was a black figurine of a boy smiling.

_I want to go on an adventure, but..._ the stranger waved harder for him to follow, ignoring what he was saying. _...I feel as if I'm needed here..._ the fiery figure frowned and dissolved into silver dust and it was blown away by a sudden burst of wind. _Later... _He opened his eyes to find his aunt waving her hand in front of his face. He laughed.

A very small, but still visible, smile spread across her lips as the lyrics captivated her wild and running imagination. An image of a lone beach with a soft breeze playfully tugging on the palm trees as the water tide flowed with ease against the white sand... Laughter ringing in her own ears as she leaned against the window of a shop beside her friends... Swimming along with sea turtles in the sea where the waters fade from jade to blue and the feeling of fishes nibbling on your toes...

But it doesn't matter. That wasn't reality. She hated it, more than anything else in the world. She despised the word. Reality. More than anything, she wanted leave everything else behind and just dream. And worry about nothing. To be undisturbed and sleep for eternity. No, she didn't want death, but really just desired an immortal abyss to herself where anything and everything is possible. And just dream endlessly in a carefree bliss. Where she could dive into the deepest wonders of her own sea of mystery. Her own oblivion, living between the truth and the lies.

_Moving over endless sky, so high_

_Tomorrow_

_We'll follow, when in doubt_

_Your promises today_

_Just wait and see..._

And who knows, maybe—just maybe—she'll get what she always dreamed of... What she always wanted and her heart truly desired... And if she didn't, she wouldn't care, she still had a lot to do anyway. She had her friends with, didn't she...?

* * *


	2. Part 1

KH: This **Dreamland**

By Syn871

Part 1

* * *

_Um, hey! This is the first chapter of This Dreamland. The other one was the prologue. I think I did well on the prologue. Thank to all those who reviewed. It really made my day! I hope you like the first chapter. I noticed that I started with a certain way of writing then I suddenly jumped to another. Sorry. Please read and review. Thank you!_

_Syn871 is my username on Gaia which I hardly ever use anymore... wow._

* * *

She had fallen asleep a long time ago although the music in her mp3 player continued playing on. Her mind heard it and the voices and the words glued to her memories and so it triggered wondrous things in her dreams.

Angels brushed their wings against her skin as demons beckoned for her to come closer. But it didn't bother her; she laughed and laughed the entire period of her dream. Then, it all disappeared. It faded away into golden dust and the wind blew it away. But she continued laughing and she chased the "pixie" dust as if it were a butterfly or a fairy.

Then, a voice called out to her. "Come! This way! No worries, I'll get you out!"

Chuckling, she craned her neck to see the source. A feminine figure in the distance waved at her, motioning for her to follow. In the background, a stupendous meadow with colorful wild flowers only seemed to mystify the stranger more. Laughing, she immediately jogged over. The images of her running self and the unknown waving figure faded into silver dust and all that could be seen disappeared. But, although it was unseen, her cheerful and curious laughter echoed throughout the corners of her dreamless mind.

Realization went and surged through her body like a bang until her eyes snapped open with panic revealing the neon green numbers of 8:24 a.m. of her alarm clock. She released the breath she had held in and wiped beads of sweat from her forehead.

_Hey, wait a sec..., _she thought, looking at the alarm clock. _My alarm clock glows a blue, not green! And I didn't put on a long-sleeve shirt when I went to bed; I put on a tank top! _In a panic, she averted her gaze in multiple directions for the answer to why she wasn't in her own bed in her home in the city.

Panting out of fear and panic, she immediately tossed the sheets to the side and, setting the pads of her feet on the cold wooden floor; she stood up and ran over to the mirror that hung on wall beside a tall bookshelf. She had to make sure she was still herself. Skidding to a halt, the first thing she saw was her own dark brown eyes. Her gaze lowered to her attire. The clothes she wore were too big for her and seemed to be for a man himself. Inspecting herself in the mirror, she looked like a midget in men's clothing. The clothes were baggy and hung on her body, making her relatively small. Her eyes snapped to the door.

_I don't get it! Where am I?!_ she thought worriedly. That's when she noticed that the upper part of her right arm felt...numb. She rolled up her sleeve and frowned when she found her arm bandaged as a crimson red spot slowly grew. _They must've given me a shot to numb the pain._

She started for the plain wooden door but suddenly it burst open and a familiar –looking woman walked in. The newcomer stepped cautiously through the door with a tray of glasses of milk and a plate of cookies. The girl looked at her up and down quizzically.

"What are you doing out of bed? Is something wrong?" she asked softly with worry hinted in her voice. The not-so-stranger meekly set the tray of snacks down and then attempted to approach her with care.

Flinching, she raised her arms to protect herself and yelled, "Don't touch me!"_ I can't believe it! It's actually Aerith from Final Fantasy XIII! I must be dreaming! _she mentally debated.

Wincing at her sudden tone, the so-called Aerith withdrew her arms and stopped in her tracks. She attempted to smile at her and kindly whispered, "Please, it's alright. A friend of mine found you in an ally late last night and he took you here. You had a slight fever and I healed you although it's amazing for even a small fever to fade away this fast. And, we—"

"Really?!" she exclaimed. "I mean..." Her body relaxed from the tension a bit and she worriedly bit her lower lip, looking away.

Aerith smiled at her warmly and so understandingly. "And don't worry. It was me who dressed you. Your other clothes were a bit dirty and ripped."

_Ripped? ...Ripped by what? _she thought impassively, remembering her bandaged arm. "Oh! I'm sorry. My bad. Sorry for yelling at you, miss. Um, what's your name?" she said nervously, faking her knowledge of knowing her.

"My name's Aerith. Pleasure," she said kindly, holding out her hand. Hesitantly, she shook it willingly with a wide smile on her face.

"And yours?" The younger girl winced, not knowing what to say.

* * *

By the time he had fallen asleep; he absolutely couldn't hear or feel anything going on around him. He was a heavy sleeper, after all. But it wasn't exactly a dreamless sleep. His mind played tricks in his own mind, fooling him, making him doubt the reality of anything he saw in his deceiving illusions.

He was drowning beneath the mass of an ocean but he could breath perfectly fine yet he kicked and flailed towards the surface. He didn't even want to be here but the water pushed him back down until he was far from the image of the sun. He kicked harder and pushed his body to its limit. Now he was choking on salt water and his heart raced in panic.

"Don't tell me you're giving up now!" a new voice taunted playfully. As if it was a canyon they were in, the voice echoed throughout the empty sea and it rung in his ears. "Ah ha ha!" the voice laughed. "These waters won't hurt you. Just let everything go and chill. And when you open your eyes, you'll be lying on the warm sand with the sun breathing down your face. Just relax!"

Deciding to trust the unknown voice, he let the tension and all the feeling go, releasing it willingly. And, amazingly, it worked. One minute, he could feel the liquid all over his skin and then suddenly he was warm and dry on the sand with the sun heating his skin rapidly. He opened his eyes and the sun greeted him with a fiery red-orange glow. Smiling, he held his hand out and grasped the sphere of fire. A dream, the light was extinguished in his hand yet it did not burn at all. He opened his hand and in the middle of his palm was a small ball of flame. Strongly bright, all the same but never did it burn.

"Nice...," the enigmatic voice complimented in the distance.

Awakening from the dream, his eyes snapped open and he was greeted by a blurry face. He blinked and noted that the face looking straight down at him seemed in his forties with blonde hair and blue eyes. The stranger grinned snobbishly and said something but he could not hear anything. He must've made a screwed-up face because the stranger made the expression of a laugh.

The face leaving from his sight for some reason, he was left with the plain, boring ceiling. He attempted to move his left arm to rub his eyes but pain welled inside his arm he supposed was damaged nerves or ripped muscles. He groaned in agony. Taking deep breaths as he stared at the ceiling, he could feel the pain slowly fade. He sighed in content.

Suddenly, he felt warm hands clutch his right and lift it. Carefully, he turned his neck to look at the person's face. Astounded although he didn't show it, his eyes widened when he was looked upon by a familiar ninja. He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her.

_This must be some sort of trick,_ he thought, eyeing her face as the Yuffie-clone inspected some cuts on his limp hand. _Or I'm still dreaming._ But he reminded himself that he felt pain. _Or is it Halloween already?_

He guessed from simple curiosity, but the Yuffie-clone poked one of the few cuts in his hand and he howled in pain. As an unintentional reflex, his body sat up and, because of the sudden movement, his left arm exploded in unbearable pain again.

Well, he could hear clearly now, couldn't he? His scream shook the room as Yuffie jumped and fell off the chair. You'd think she was a ninja and land on her feet. Seething and red with anger, he accidentally fell off the bed, onto the wooden floor with a loud _thud_. Yuffie winced.

The door slammed open as a new guy came in worriedly asking, "What happened? Did the Heartless—"

But Yuffie cut him off frantically yelling, springing to her feet, "Squall! Over here!" She pointed to an annoyed and patient spread out on the floor. Relaxing and muttering, "My name's Leon," Squall sighed and rubbed his temples at Yuffie's doing.

A shadow fell over the patient's eyes as he finally noticed who had entered. _Okay, I'm just gonna believe it's Halloween and Squall has become really popular..._

"What exactly did you do, Yuffie?" he asked, forcing on a calm exterior and running a gloved hand through his long, brunette hair.

Yuffie blushed. "Me? It wasn't me! All I did was poke him and then he started screaming!" She waved her arms as she spoke to prove her point.

"Did you ever try to even _look_ where you were poking?" Squall asked oh-so-coolly. Yuffie answered by shrugging and laughing nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck as a sense of comfort.

"Uh, help?!" the patient said crossly from below. Squall and Yuffie immediately helped him up and they laid him comfortably on the bed.

The patient took a deep, deep breath and released it after a moment of silence. He noted he wore a plain, black t-shirt and some sweatpants. "Okay, look here, whoever you are, take off the mask or make-up or whatever and tell me where I am and what's _going on_?!" he yelled, irritated. He was excited to be around such realistic and life-like mimics of Final Fantasy characters but he wanted to know how he got here.

Leon inspected him by eyeing him up and down. "Do you know how you got here?" Yuffie glanced at him and then retuned her gaze to their guest expectantly.

Nervous, he looked away and stared at his hands that lied on his lap. "I, uh, don't know. I don't remember." _I'm not home..._

Leon did not give up right there. "Then, what _do _you remember?" he persisted. Yuffie elbowed him in the ribs, warning him not to depress him.

"It...it was like any other day, really. And then I went to bed after almost falling asleep on the couch. Next thing I know is seeing some old guy's face. And then you guys." Yuffie laughed at their guest's description of their friend.

Leon nodded solemnly, but understandingly, "You're probably talking about Cid." Rather fickle, Leon sat down on the bed near his feet as Yuffie announced optimistically, "Well, don't let it get you down. Your world probably got destroyed by the Heartless! Don't worry; we'll take care of you."

_I highly doubt my __**world**__ was destroyed by the Heartless_, the patient thought impassively.

Leon could only nod, agreeing with Yuffie. "Yeah, you can stay here as long as you need, but we'll need your help with the house and errands of that matter." He stood and made his way to the open door.

Yuffie watched him curiously and asked, "Hey, aren't you going to tell him about the other one we found?" With sudden curiosity, the patient immediately looked up to meet Leon's eyes who had stopped walking out of the room and had turned around.

_What other one?_ he pondered. His eyes widened in realization, his fist quenching in confusion. _Somebody else is here besides me? Some one I know?!_

Before he could make sure or speak, Leon spoke, "A girl around your age with short black hair was found the same time you were." He turned on his heel and twisted the door knob, opening it and throwing him a final glance.

The patient stared at him intensely before asking, "Can I see her, please?!" Yuffie and Leon glanced at each other before nodding. To them, it was sudden. He wasn't fully healed yet and it would be painful for him to even walk down a hallway now. But what if he recognized her? It was an answer closer to the question to how they got here.

"Yuffie, take him to the next room where she is," Leon ordered reluctantly over his shoulder, "I have to go to the third district. There've been Heartless attacking a household." Yuffie playfully saluted him like a soldier and mimicked, "Aye, aye, captain!" Their patient gave away the tension in his body and laughed.

With the click of the closed door signaling Leon's leave, Yuffie turned to her guest's direction and childishly asked with her hands behind her back, "So, now that you'll be staying with us, what's your name?"

He opened his mouth to answer but the body-less voice in his head stopped him. _Stop right there! You don't know them, what if it's an April Fools, hm?! You might know who they are, but they're still strangers,_ his conscience voiced logically.

His mouth still wide open in bewilderment, he looked away as Yuffie raised an eyebrow by his strange behavior. "Um, hellooo?!" Yuffie sang, waving her hand in his face. He blinked and gave her a nervous smile.

"Oh, um, sorry. Spaced out for a sec. My bad," he apologized, rubbing his neck.

She grinned like a child, accepting his apology. "Doesn't matter! What's your name?"

Thinking fast, he sub-consciously answered, "Tai! It's Tai! My name's Tai, miss." He smiled at her bright, innocent face to hide the fact that he was lying.

"Tai, huh? Well, my name's Yuffie!" she exclaimed excitedly, sticking out her hand to shake. The newly named boy cheerfully accepted her hand and shook hands, signifying the beginning of a new friendship. She released his hand and straightened herself as she asked, "So do you want to see the other one we found, Tai?"

He nodded reassuringly. Yuffie pouted her lower lip thoughtfully, tilting her hip to one side. "Is it some one you might know, Tai?" Tai shrugged in answer, hopeful it might be a family member or a close friend.

Yuffie took a step back and hesitantly asked, "Can you walk?" He glanced at her and tossed the sheets to the side. He gently swept his legs off the bed and forced his body to stand. The moment his weight shifted from the bed to his feet, he stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. Yuffie helped him to his feet and, grasping his arm tightly, she said, "I'll take that as a no."

Tai could only smile to hide his embarrassment. "Um, I, really, I _need_ to know who it is. If it's some one close to me, then...," Tai said, trying his best to explain, "If it's somebody close, I'll know I'm not alone, you know?" Yuffie shrugged inwardly, not having a clue what he was trying to say but she nodded _so_ understandingly anyways.

Yuffie huffed thoughtfully and released his arm slowly. Tai hesitantly took a few wobbly steps forward, feeling like a helpless fool. Yuffie clapped her hands as he began to get the hang of the feeling in his legs for walking. He smiled triumphantly, pumping a fist in the air.

Excitedly marching out the door, she exclaimed, "Alright, Tai, you did it! Now let's go visit her! Yeah!" Tai smiled and he, too, yelled, "Yeah!" And he followed her out the door. Yuffie led him through a hallway, passing a couple of doors and an open closet. As he walked behind her, he took note of all the picture frames hanging on the wall. There were some people he didn't recognize from the _Final Fantasy_ series. But he recognized Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Marlene, Leon, Yuffie, Denzel, and some characters his friends told him about that were from the _FF_ game Leon came from.

He had a lot of questions. Well, that is, _if_ this isn't a dream. He ran a finger against the wall of the hallway and asked absently, "Hey, Yuffie, what exactly is this place? You know, the name of the town or city or village?"

Yuffie glanced at him over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow as if to say _why-the-sudden-curiosity?_ "Traverse Town. The base world of all worlds. This is the place survivors find themselves in when their home-worlds are destroyed by the Heartless."

"Right." Tai nodded. Before he knew it, Yuffie had stopped and he nearly ran into her but quickly caught himself with a comical sigh of relief.

"We're here!" Yuffie excitedly kicked the door open and threw her arms up in the air with bubbly pride. Tai sweat-dropped behind her. As he was too excited to wait, he side-stepped her and hurriedly walked into the room.

The first thing that he laid eyes upon was... _her_. "Thank God it's you!" he exclaimed happily. And he found himself running towards her and giving her his signature bear-hug although he ignored her face full of surprise and shock. And then, his smile grew wider once she hugged him back with equal happiness.

* * *

"And yours?" The younger girl winced, not knowing what to say.

Aerith tilted her head to the side rather fickle, but curious. She continued on gazing at her expectantly.

But panic surged through her body like suspenseful drums, thoughts came in a hurry like fire works in her mind. _What's my name?! ...Why can't I talk?! Okay, relax... What if it's not safe to say my name? Then, um, make something up! ...Hurry!_

"Um, m-my name is, uh, um, it's, uh...," she started off miserably. She flushed with embarrassment. She was a dark tan, so she just turned darker, not red. "Um, Mab! Yes, um, Mab... My name's Mab."

Bemused, Aerith raised an eyebrow towards her, clearly not believing her. _Mab_ turned even darker with shame and humiliation. "Okay, okay!" Shutting her eyes tight as to not see Aerith's scowling face, she waved her arms in her face so not to anger her. "My name is actually something else, but I didn't think it safe to say it. So I made some other name, sorry."

Chuckling, Aerith approached her and patted her shoulder to comfort her. "It's alright. If you'd like, your name can be Mab, Mab."

'Mab' looked up at her with stars in her eyes making Aerith laugh. "Really?! Oh, Aerith, you're the best! I never did like my name anyway!" She, now named Mab officially, threw her scrawny arms around her happily. Rather touched by this cheerful child, Aerith hugged her back. Traverse Town could definitely need a new star in the neighborhood. It has been quiet and uneventful for some time.

Releasing her, Mab took a step back and took in a deep, deep breath and then she let it go after a moment. She repeated the action as Aerith watched her in concern. Noticing her watchful attitude, Mab hurriedly said, "Oh, um, sorry, it's just that I have to do that when I'm really excited!"

After a moment of utter silence, Aerith, amazingly out of nowhere, begins to laugh hysterically. Okay, not rolling-on-the-floor-laughing but red-faced laughing. "Ah ha ha, you are just so adorable and cute, Mab! Ah ha ha ha!" Now, Aerith realized why she chose 'Mab.' Wasn't _mab_ the Hebrew word for _queen of the fairies_? It did sort of match her.

Turning even a darker crimson, Mab now realized that there had been some friends complimenting her on her naivety and innocence. She clapped her hands to her face to hide her blushing face.

"Would you like some cookies with milk, Mab?" Mab peeked from in-between her bony fingers to see a flushed, but grinning Aerith, motioning towards a platter of chocolate chip cookies with a rather large glass milk.

"Sure!" Mab chirped excitedly. Aerith picked up the platter like a pro waitress and beckoned them toward her. Childish Mab ate them as her baggy sleeves covered her skimpy arms and hands. It gave her an air of pure bliss, cuteness and innocence. "Hey, Aerith, where am I?"

Aerith smiled sweetly down at her and answered attentively, "You're in Traverse Town." Her smile faltered. "Your world was probably destroyed by the Heartless. Stay here and we'll see what happens."

At the sound of _**Heartless**_, Mab's jaw froze in mid-bite but she continued eating, although more slowly. "...I see." _You have got to be kidding me! This can't be a dream! It's way, __**way**__ too realistic! And, besides, I thought you couldn't feel pain in dreams like these... I can certainly feel the numbness in my arm... Oh, wait! _"Hey, Aerith? I have a question."

"Ask away," she said gently, setting the platter on the bedside table so she could listen.

"Where exactly did you find me? And how was I hurt?" Mab swept her sleeve to her shoulder and showed her bandaged to Aerith. "...See?"

Aerith looked away with a pained look on her face. Mab arched her eyebrows in worry. "It was probably the Heartless when they attacked. I'm not sure." Aerith swept a lock of hair behind her ear and sighed. "A friend of ours named Cid was walking back to his home when he found you and some other boy in an alley. He brought you back here since it was closer."

"Oh, I see...," Mab mumbled quietly. She ignored the mention of the 'other boy' and passed it as some kid who really was part of the dream, not someone she might know. After a couple of moments of silent munching, the door flew open causing Mab and Aerith to jump.

"Thank God it's you!" Mab heard, recognizing it as highly familiar.

Before she even knew it, she was facing the familiar face of one of her closest friends. Then she was tightly embraced in his bear-hug. Grinning broadly, she hugged him back.

Maybe she really wasn't alone... She had her friends with, didn't she...?

* * *

_Um, please read and review! Thank you!_

_Sayonara!_


	3. Part 2

KH: This _Dreamland_

By Syn871

Part 2

* * *

"Tai... C'mon, Tai... Tai... Wake up, Tai!"

And another shove to his naked shoulder jolted him awake from his comfortable slumber that night. He gasped in air the minute his bright blue eyes snapped open to find Mab's two-colored eyes worriedly staring straight at him.

Sighing tiredly, Tai propped up himself on his elbows and mumbled a, "G'morning, Mab... Wha's goin' on?"

The room Leon had them use was exceptionally dark, indicating it was clearly not morning.

With a fearful expression on her face, Mab was sitting on the bed right next to Tai's body that was protectively covered by the many blankets.

"It's two in the morning, Tai," she whispered loud enough for him to hear. "You don't have to say good morning..."

"Oh...," he mouthed, half-asleep. He noticed her expression that was on the brink of tears and furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously. "What's the matter?"

And, then, the salty tears began falling from her eyes like rainfall along with her noisy sobs. Desperately, Mab slapped her hands onto her mouth in vain to muffle out her cries so not wake anybody up.

Now fully awake, Tai immediately sat up straight and lifted a hesitant hand to Mab's quaking shoulders. "...Mab?" Not very good with the touchy-consoling thing, he laid his nervous hand on her shoulder and seemingly rubbed it. "Another nightmare?"

To his utter surprise, Man gave him a small nod along with a, "Y-yeah...," and continued her snuffing.

"What d'you dream about this time?" Tai whispered gently.

Mab could only shake her head at the question. She sniffed and let out another quiet sob. But Tai wouldn't let her off that easy.

"Miss your family?" he persisted, but softly. She shook her head and mumbled a 'not yet.'

"The hotness of Riku and Owen?" Again, no.

As much as she wanted, Mab couldn't decrease her sobbing and so she continued her desperate sniffing and crying.

Then, as Tai sadly ruffled her short hair as she rested her forehead on his shoulder, it hit him. "Let me guess...," he whispered lowly with a growing but worried smile.

With her forehead still leaning against his shoulder, she eyed him curiously even though tears kept falling. "You dreamed about them, didn't you?"

Almost pained at hearing it, Mab sniffed noisily and murmured under her breath, "Yeah..."

"Doing what?" Tai asked once Mab had mutely stood up and trudged over to her bedside table across his side of the room. Silently, she opened the top drawer and took out the familiar box decorated with golden sunflowers.

Tai remembered it from barging in her room and seeing it on the table. Following her quiet example, he opened his drawer from the table by his bed and took out her black sketchbook.

After she sat back down on his bed with the sunflower-box on her box, Tai handed her the sketchbook and she couldn't help but smile at the fact that something so familiar was so far from home with her.

"Thank you so much, Tai," she whispered in the darkness as she rubbed the dry tears from her cheeks. With the moonlight seeping through the open window, Mab slowly flipped through the rough pages and shyly ran her fingers against the faces of all the people she had drawn.

Tai watched her brush her fingers against the flat, 2-D face of Owen which she had somehow finished unseen before they parted the day before. A smile crept up their faces when they found no difference between the real Owen and his secret portrait.

"They were...," Mab murmured suddenly. Tai looked up at her worriedly; she was actually answering his question from earlier. "They were..." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "They were... calling me." Out of nowhere, she shut the sketchbook with a bang and angrily threw it at the wall behind them.

Jumping at the impact of the colliding book, Tai's eyes widened at her and saw the pain in her eyes. "Mab—" He stood up to touch her shoulder but she only pushed him away, sobbing.

"_No_, Tai," she hissed at him. He froze obediently in mid-step and stared at her worriedly. "You, of all people, should understand!" she cried. "It's already been four days, Tai! I thought you'd already notice what's wrong..."

The blue-eyed boy only gave her a look of confusion. "What're you talking about, Mab?"

She narrowed her two-colored eyes at him as tears fell from them. "We don't belong here, Tai... No matter how much we love Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith, this isn't real..." Mab sobbed and took a step toward him. "Tai, this isn't a game. People are actually _dieing_!"

Tai couldn't believe his ears at what his long-time friend was saying. But what she was saying made perfect sense as his expression softened a bit. "It's alright, Mab... We'll get through this together..." He stared at her teary eyes with a mixed look of fear and understanding. "I know... I know we can't do anything about what will happen... And that scares you."

"Yeah," Mab whispered loud enough for him to hear, lowering her gaze to the floor, "I'm terrified..."

Noticing her shoulders weren't tense but relaxed, Tai gently approached her and, gripping her shoulder, he led her to her bed. There, Mab snuggled herself in under the warm covers but did not allow herself to fall asleep.

"You okay, now?" he murmured and she nodded in response.

"I can have my sketchbook back in the morning, right?" Mab asked quietly. He flashed her a toothy grin as a yes. Out of nowhere, she abruptly sits up with a loud gasp, scaring the life out of Tai. She tosses the covers aside and runs over to where the sunflower box was atop of his bed.

"Thank the gods," Mab whispered to herself as she clutched the wooden box to her chest like it was her own child. "Aerith gave it to me," she wearily explained to a wide-eyed Tai who mouthed and 'oh.'

"What's in it?" Tai asked uber-curiously, walking over to her side and peeking over her shoulder. She grinned and opened it to reveal only a gold chain with a single gold pendant, a pair of hand-made bracelets, and a pair of small gold loop earrings. "All yours?"

"Yup," Mab chorused cheerfully. Excitedly, she put on her missing earrings and the gold necklace. "Aerith said I she had taken them off when she was healing us because she didn't want us to lose 'em."

Tai glanced at the bracelets in the sunflower box he was holding. "And the bracelets?"

"See?" Mab pointed at one of the bracelets which had a small figurine of a sea turtle and a bell. "That's the one you got me for Christmas." She shook it a bit and the silver bell rang sweetly to the ears. Then she pointed to a teal bracelet decorated with orange, green, and white beads. "And that one was from a trip to Guadalajara with my mom."

"And me?" Tai insisted in a left-out tone.

Mab simply laughed and softly put on her bracelets. Every movement that she did, the silver bell would ring from its place next to the sea turtle.

"Actually," Mab started as Tai grabbed the box from her hands and nosily peeked inside, "There _is_ some stuff that's yours. Like this." She took the box back from him and she dumped the remaining stuff on his bed. Out fell from the box were his house keys, a _necklace_ of Bleach, and a single photograph of his younger sister.

"No way!" Tai exclaimed, picking up his keys and examining them. "I was looking for these all day yesterday!" He heard Mab snort in laughter and glared at her. "It's not funny!" Tai glanced at the photo of his sister and grinned. "Doesn't she look so cute, Mab?!" he gushed at the picture.

Mab rolled her eyes and said, "I've had enough nieces, nephews, and neighborhood kids for a lifetime, thank you."

The necklace of the typical blue flame from _Bleach_ was actually once Mab's but he had namely forced her to give it to him. "Remember when I forced you to give it to me?" Tai grinned and she glared at him. _What a nice memory._

He then glanced at the keys to his home. When he'd returned home from a hard day at school, Tai couldn't find his keys and waited outside till his aunt had come home from work. Turns out they were in his pocket the entire time. He smacked himself for his stupidity.

"Yeah, I was grumpy for the rest of the day," Mab grumbled crossly about the _Bleach_ necklace. "Expensive, too."

Tai laughed with a shrug. "Either way, let's got to bed. I'm tired. You just had to wake me for your emo-ness!" Mab gasped dramatically and smacked him on the arm.

"Ow, you goober!"

* * *

"Did you feel anything when you were asleep, Mab? Did _you_, Tai?" Merlin the Wizard asked for the millionth time already, leaning _very_ closely into their faces. Maybe too close for comfort.

Both Mab and Tai shook their heads although Mab did with a roll of her eyes. They were sitting on the plain, but comfy, couches in the living room of Cid's home in the Third District. After a few days, Leon had sent Yuffie to fetch Merlin to see if he could decipher any clues to their strange arrival.

It was maybe eight or nine in the morning and the so-called 'orphaned' children were showered and ready for the errands or chores Leon usually assigned them every day.

Nearly a month had passed but it could not compete with the security of home. Tai had already found it tiring and longed for something new to happen. Mab was content and refused for something too sudden. She'd rather watch and gather information to piece it together like a jigsaw puzzle. She needed to know what would happen next, she felt as if it were her job to look after themselves. Mab was, after all, the calculating one and the most leader-like.

Signaling the long-awaited end of the questions, Merlin stood from his seat and picked his ancient suitcase along with him and faced Leon with a grave expression as both Mab and Tai gave a silent cheer.

"I'm sorry, Leon. But I cannot detect any hints to where they came from," Merlin apologized solemnly as Leon ran a hand through his hair. "Usually there is a distinct scent of magic that points to their home-world. None can be found, apparently."

_That's 'cuz our __**world**__ is way beyond your radar,_ Mab thought rather sourly. She turned to Tai who was staring at Merlin curiously. She critically eyed him up and down, taking it all in.

He was desperately in need of some new brand-clothes. This meant one thing as Mab grinned excitedly; shopping! Of course, she wasn't one to talk, she, too, needed at least a pair of pants of some sort. All she wore was some simple dresses and outfits Aerith and Yuffie had outgrown or didn't like anymore. At least it was something, right?

Frowning deeply and turning away, Mab remembered Leon's words that they were short on money. With less and less people every day because they were moving away to _safer_ worlds, even Cid struggled to sell products in his shop. He could go bankrupt any time soon.

Yuffie usually took odd jobs now and then, and other times she was out on the rooftops on patrol for the Heartless.

And, then, Leon would do his absolute best to provide money by taking odd jobs as well and answering desperate calls from townspeople complaining about pesky Heartless destroying their property. The phone calls had become business now because they paid out of sincerity and kindness.

"Will we ever go back?" Tai asked curiously all of sudden as Merlin was about to close the front door behind him. Merlin stopped and turned to a worried Tai.

"...I don't know," was all he could say. "It all depends on Sora and his companions." At the mention of Sora, Tai could not help but beam and Mab could not help but grin, too, although she had a bad feeling about this.

_So that means Sora and co. had already passed by this world, right?_ Mab pondered to herself, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. _Then their world has already been destroyed and Riku has or __**is**__ already with Maleficent and all the bad Disney guys..._

_But the question is has Riku and Sora already met up? As in here in Traverse Town when Maleficent __**proved**__ to Riku that Sora abandoned him..._ Mab eyed the bearded magician suspiciously as he exchanged a few words with an agitated Leon. _I can ask Leon how many times Sora has been here and when he did arrive here..._

_Finally! Something new..._ Tai drawled enthusiastically, imagining of the perfect opportunity to meet Sora, Donald, and Goofy. _And maybe I'll even get a Keyblade of my own!_

Mab narrowed her eyes at him, perfectly knowing what was on his mind. She knew him too well, and her intuition was reminding her of the bad premonition she had gotten this morning.

Her blue two-sided compact mirror one of her sisters had gotten her for her birthday had cracked. Mab thought it to have a hidden meaning because the mirror did not break of an impact on the outside. It had broken from the very middle in the exact point where the pupil of her eye was being reflected.

_Something's going to hit me..._, Mab thought gloomily. _Or even __**us**__... Something bad head-on..._

The door closed with a loud click behind the old magician. Leon tiredly leaned against the wall with a heavy sigh. Mab silently gave him a pitiful look. She felt for him. Her own father was like this at times. The burden of heavy responsibility on their shoulders wore them down...

Regaining strength all of a sudden, Leon stood straight and tall and bossily announced to the two, "Alright, you two. Yuffie is going to take you to town to look for a teacher or combat specialist for you guys." He waited a moment to let it sink in the minds of the two children sitting in front of him. "We can't keep escorting you throughout town. After you learn at least to look after yourselves, you can get jobs to help, okay?"

The entire time, Tai's toothy grin grew wider and wider and wider just like Miracle Grow. _How exciting!_ He clenched his fist to contain all the enthusiasm bubbling like crazy inside of him. _I'll be fighting real-life Heartless..._

Mab smiled although she had seen a real Heartless before and they were _nothing_ like the ones in the game. The Shadow types were uglier and far more demented and they did not think twice about attacking an innocent human.

_Savages_, she'd heard Leon call them once. Mab remembered that they were once people, actual beings with feelings and thoughts like any other person. It was hard to believe that once you look at them.

She felt her eyes sting and blur with upcoming tears but quickly wiped them away when Yuffie walked in from the kitchen.

As Tai listened closely, Mab was lost in her own little world of thoughts.

Nobodies, too, they were once human beings. So why does the Keyblade Master continue wiping them out? Can't they be saved? Or are their hearts lost forever in the darkness to be given a second chance at redemption?

"C'mon, Mab, let's go." Mab looked up to be lost in her friends' sky-blue orbs. She smiled ruefully and stood up beside him.

As they followed closely behind Yuffie out of Cid's home in the Third District, she couldn't help but notice Tai's undying light in him. He was always so happy, and she envied him for it. She was always so suspicious and cautious. Why couldn't she be drunk with bliss and not have a care in the world like him?

Mab paused on the steps right outside the door as bright sunlight poured inside and turned around to face a frowning Leon as Yuffie and Tai already begun walking away towards the Second District.

Fumbling for words, she started, "Leon, about Sora... About how long ago did he arrive here...?" Noticing her nervousness on the subject, his facial expression softened a bit and he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

For reasons unknown, Mab was suddenly comforted by his touch. Smiling brightly at him, she asked again, "When did Sora arrive here?"

Removing his hand from her scrawny shoulder, Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Sighing, he said softly, "Let's walk. I'll tell you on the way. You already missed Yuffie."

"Okay." Mab stepped onto the brick ground and waited till Leon securely locked the door. Then they began to walk side by side towards the Second District behind Yuffie and Tai's path.

Absolute silence followed the two companions as Leon casually nudged the giant double doors of the Second District and moved aside to let Mab step inside.

"Leon, will you tell me _nooow_?" she whined childishly. Leon merely glanced at her and closed the door behind him. He led her down the alley they were in and out into the open space of the middle of the Second District. Now, they could see the townsfolk out and about.

The new-found noise comforted Mab somehow. It reminded her of home, her home in the city. Even for two weeks, it was a long, long time to be far from home. It's called homesickness.

As she looked around for Tai, she noticed that Traverse Town was a lot more like a town with bustling people than in the game. Mab took comfort in that.

"Why do you need to know?" Leon asked quietly, walking past her into the crowd.

Mab jogged after him, slowing to a walk beside him. She took pride in the fact that she felt protected and safe right here by his side. "Just because!" Leon glanced at her with an amused smirk and a raised eyebrow, making Mab laugh. "Well, actually, Tai wants to meet Sora for himself and I'd like to have them meet."

"You don't say," Leon drawled. He sighed and frowned thoughtfully. "Well, to answer your first question, Sora actually arrived here nearly half a year ago. And he visits often for advice or training for magic or for combat or sometimes just because he misses us..."

"Really?! How sweet!" Mab cooed playfully. Leon walked up a short flight of stairs and stepped onto the second floor of the Second District that overlooked the more open patio of the town. "Thanks. So, where's a sword-combat teacher for us?"

Mab swept a lock of hair behind her ear and thought, _So Sora has already locked the hearts of some worlds already... _

_But I remember the timeline for Kingdom Hearts was nearly a year and the Game-boy Advance one was like half a year... _The fourteen-year-old glanced at some outfits being advertised through the window of a shop, misleading Leon on what she was thinking of._ So if you add KH: II and the GB one, it'd be a year... So, altogether, Sora and co. was away from home for two years, approximately. _

Passing a shoe store, Mab glanced at a pair of brown boots similar to those of Aerith's. _Wow! Two whole freaking years!_

_Wait, hold up!_ Mab stroked her chin thoughtfully at the morning sky. _But what about the time he was asleep? In the game, they mentioned that they were asleep for nearly a year..._ Mab clutched her head and comically stumbled around. _Gah! Brain pain! _

The tall gunslinger suddenly stopped and poor Mab crashed into him. A frowning Leon looked over his shoulder at the heap on the floor that should be a scrawny Mab. He rolled his eyes with a smirk and helped her up.

"Actually, your new teacher is right there," Leon said with a hint of amusement in his voice after picking Mab up. He pointed at an aging man with a wooden staff that was speaking animatedly with Tai and Yuffie. The three stood in a corner where a mysterious door stood in-between the shops.

Almost as if feeling Mab's stare, the old man looked over his shoulder in search for the source but Mab was quick enough to dash behind Leon's broad stature. Peeking from behind Leon's elbow, she whispered loudly to her guardian, "He's actually kinda' creepy, Leon..."

Leon smirked and ruffled Mab's mass of black hair. "Come. He's pretty nice once you get know him."

Mab looked up at him curiously with these big, watery eyes. "You sure?" Leon could only roll his eyes at her attempt to escape. He then realized that this child has melted a part of the iced barrier around his heart without even trying.

Smiling ruefully, Leon pushed her in front of him and nudged her in-between her shoulder blades to get her walking. Mab jumped at the unexpected poke and jumped, getting the attention of the Yuffie, Tai, and the old man.

"Hey, guys," Mab squeaked nervously. She waved lamely which made Tai snicker.

The all-smiles boy ran up to her and tugged on her wrist. "Come on! The old fart's really awesome! He says he'll teach me how to fight with a sword just like Cloud!"

At the mention of Cloud, Mab forcefully grabbed Tai's collar and lowly hissed in face, "You told them you know Cloud?!" Tai looked at her, surprised. "Did you?!"

"Uh..." Tai glance at the questioning faces of Leon and Yuffie. The old man was busy conversing with a small boy. "Um, yeah..."

"Idiot!" Mab cried incredulously. She smacked her forehead at his stupidity. "Do you know what this means?!"

Tai looked at her blankly and waved to Yuffie and Leon it was okay. They glanced at each other and went to speak with the old combat specialist. "So what if I told them?"

Now annoyed, Mab poked his forehead. "When we first got here, what did we tell them where we came from?"

"From a world called Earth," Tai answered, still not comprehending.

"And where does Cloud come from?"

"Midgar."

"That's a completely different world!" Mab cried dramatically, waving her arms in the air. She looked like a spoiled, bratty child, receiving dirty looks from passersby. "Otherwise, the Final Fantasy world would've been called Earth. Where, _exactly_, would we have known Cloud?"

"...In Midgar."

"Exactly!"

Tai's eyes widened in realization and then softened with worry. He bit his lip.

"Now, they're going to ask questions, Tai!" Mab whispered, totally bummed. "And, then, we're going to have to explain that they're just a buncha' fictional characters from a video game. I mean, who's going to believe _that_?!"

Lowering his gaze to the stone floor, Tai muttered shamefully, "I'm sorry. I blew our cover, didn't I?"

Mab sighed anxiously and said nothing. She took interest in the face of their new teacher. She took note that he had a rather big goatee and had graying hair that was once black which reached down to his waist in thick dreadlocks.

Blowing a bang out of her face, Mab faced an ashamed-looking Tai and said, "I'm sorry, Tai. It's okay. At least Leon didn't hear. _He_ would've certainly asked but, hopefully, Yuffie forgets. And the old man didn't hear, right?"

Tai looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Um, I'm pretty sure he heard, too, Mab..."

Letting out a breath, Mab patted his cheek and offered him a warm, warm smile. "S'okay." And Tai returned her smile. She then looked up at the cloudless sky thoughtfully. "One more thing, remember those funky dreams we had of these two kids...?"

"Yeah. But they were older than us...," Tai answered, tilting his head to the side.

"Whatever! She looked a year older than me! Still means she's a kid!" Mab retorted, offended. Tai snorted with a roll of his blue eyes.

"You didn't tell them, did you?" she then asked, eyeing him skeptically.

"No...," Tai responded sincerely, scratching the back of his neck.

"Good," Mar nodded seriously.

Tai sighed and confessed, "You should give Yuffie some credit, Mab. Just 'cause she's a bit naïve, doesn't mean she's stupid." He looked up at her and was greeted by a thoughtful frown. "She looked at me funny when I mentioned we met Cloud," he said, nearly inaudible.

Mab smacked her forehead. "You arse...," she whispered.

"I said I was sorry—!" Tai cried, putting his arms in the air in defense.

"—Hold it in, Tai," Mab stated, holding up a hand to shut him up. "It's _okay_. But when they ask about it, let _me_ do the talking, okay? And don't do anything reckless, got it?"

"Got it," he grumbled reluctantly, letting his arms drop to his sides.

"Hey, you two! Are you done talking?!"

The two best friends turned their necks to see an excited Yuffie waving like mad while jumping up and down. Leon and the combat specialist teacher were already entering the black, mysterious door that stood in the corner between the stores.

Now, Mab was deadly curious where the door led as she grinned evilly. Tai beamed with stars in his eyes.

"Do you know what this means, Mab?" he said giddily, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Do you?! Do you?! Huh?!" Mab could only see stars floating around her head and didn't answer as Yuffie laughed hard.

"Yes, yes! I do, Tai!" Mab said with swirls in her eyes. Regaining consciousness, she smacked his hands away. "Will you let go of me, you waffle-head!"

"..._Waffle-head_?" Tai released Mab and she fell to the floor with a loud thump. "What kind of comeback is _that_?!"

"I'm hungry, okay?!" Mab grumbled childishly.

Tai smiled at her warmly. "You're pathetic, you know that?" he said.

Mab gasped dramatically. She then glared at him, flushing. "_You're_ pathetic!" In her mind, she searched rapidly for a good insult. "Y-you filthy sack of pathetic-ness!"

Tai jerked his head back and roared with laughter. Angrily, Mab stomped her foot and left towards the door with Tai right behind her, still laughing.

It was funny, really, how much two great friends could fight and scream and stomp their foot and still consider the other a friend.

* * *

_Sorry! I said I'd post the later on after another one. But FF wouldn't post it for some reason but no I got it. _

_R&R!_


	4. Part 3

This Dreamland+

By Emalyzah

Part 3

* * *

Author's Note: In Part 2, I put 'Mab's two-colored eyes', right? Well, pretend I put brown instead 'cuz I put here the reason here why her eye-color changes. Her eyes are originally brown, they just change. It has something to do with their… _powers_, I guess, and they discover it until now.

Sorry for the mistake!

* * *

The sun rose the next morning with grace and shined through the window onto the two teenager's sleeping faces.

A groggy groan escaped from Tai's drooling mouth as he sat up to find the glorious beginning of a new day. "Ugh, stupid sun," he cursed to himself before lying back down and pulling the covers over himself. "Mab, close the friggin' curtains," he whined immaturely.

"No, it's time to wake up anyway," Mab mumbled half-asleep from her pillow. With a mega-messy bed head, Mab awoke silently and clumsily stood out of her bed. Yawning loudly, she made her way out the room to the bathroom the household shared.

She closed the door behind her and stretched in front of the mirror. Mab rubbed her eyes and leaned in closer to the mirror to examine the bags under her eyes. She screamed once she saw the very unexplainable change.

Then the most peculiar thing happened.

The toilet erupted icky water like a volcano. Although instead of boiling lava.

* * *

Tai's head snapped up once a familiar scream echoed in his half-asleep mind and he stumbled out of his bed onto the floor.

"Oh, hell—Mab, 'the hell happened?! _Mab!!_" he shouted in a blind panic with the covers over his head and waving his arms like a little girl.

* * *

Leon's eyes snapped open in a shock once Mab's scream reached his sensitive ears. A slight jolt spread through his body and he slowly rose from bed.

"Ugh…," he moaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What's—"

Then a deafening crash rung through the entire house and startled Leon. He shot out of his room to find out the cause of all the commotion.

* * *

Aerith knocked on the bathroom door a third time.

"Please, Mab, let me in," she gently and kindly begged. "Are you unharmed…?"

"No! Don't look at me!!" Aerith heard before a soft, quiet sniff. _What could have happened?_

"I'm hideous!" Mab wailed. "And even the toilet agreed, Aerith! I feel _horrible_!!" Aerith sighed.

"So what happened?" Leon ventured in a calm panic, approaching the bathroom door and a worried Aerith.

Aerith calmly explained. "She won't let me in, Leon. She keeps saying she's hideous and that the toilet agrees. She was just ranting on about her eyes and water everywhere."

Leon cocked an eyebrow. "Uh…"

The pretty brunette scowled up at him. "_Help_ her, Leon! Can't you see she's in distress?!"

"Alright, alright," Leon held up his hands in mock defense. "Jeez…" Leon gently knocked on the door.

"Mab? Mab, let me in," he whispered loudly. "Everything's gonna' be okay…"

"No, it's not!!" Mab cried even louder. She sounded close to the doorway so he assumed she was listening. "My eyes changed, Leon! They're demented now!" Mab sobbed.

_What?_ Leon's face scrunched up in confusion. "What're you talking about, Mab? Let me see."

Hesitantly, Mab reached for the cold doorknob and opened it. She looked like a mess. Tears stained her cheeks and hair stuck out everywhere. And her tank top was crooked at an odd angle.

"Your eyes changed?" Aerith asked curiously but kindly. Mab nodded in response.

Leon took a step closer. "Come closer," he said briskly to her.

She obeyed numbly. He cupped her face and softly forced her eyes open. "Jeez, your eyes are so red and puffy," he murmured distractedly.

Then he saw the apparent difference. One eye was now blue and the other green. He squinted his eyes questioningly. "Wait, weren't your eyes brown?"

"Yeah…"

"Wha's goin' on?!" came Tai's voice from behind Aerith.

"Her eye color changed over the night for some reason. We don't know why, though," Aerith explained, attitude controlled as ever. "We'll probably take her to the doctors today…"

"Yeah, that's probably the best thing," Leon said, removing his hands from her face. He turned to Aerith. "I don't see why they changed."

Mab looked at their solemn faces. And then she felt a great, big rain cloud wash over her heart. _Why do things have to change all of a sudden…? _

* * *

Doctor Leppard coughed the usual mechanical cough doctors do as to signal the beginning of bad news as he put his handy flashlight back in his pocket.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Leonhart, but the cause of her eye color changing suddenly is unexplainable," the doctor with the cold sack said.

Leon sighed and closed his eyes in thought. "It's fine," he mumbled. "Thank you, doctor, we'll be leaving now."

Sitting on the inspection chair, Mab exclaimed, "What?! But there's gotta' be—"

"There is _nothing_," Leon said seriously, looking at her, "you can do, Mab. Leave it be."

Mab let her head droop and eyed her boots wearily. "Whatever," she mumbled helplessly. Leon sighed exasperatedly. He didn't mean to sound rude and uncaring but life needed to go on.

They walked out of the room and onto the white hallways of the small clinic/hospital. Silence enveloped them like poison.

"Leon?" Mab ventured shyly after a moment.

"Hm?" Leon hummed in reply, arms crossed.

"I want to go home."

* * *

Thanks for waiting so long. 


	5. Part 4

_This Dreamland_

By Emalyzah

**Part 4**

_

* * *

_

Barrow, their newly appointed teacher, had said that the underground building had once been a hide-out against warring neighbors and earthquakes.

_Liar_, Mab couldn't help but think carpingly.

She knew from intuition---_and a women's intuition is never wrong!_---that earthquakes did not exist in Traverse Town. And warring neighbors? She knew her teacher meant warring countries and it would be thousands of miles of rocky terrains until any one could reach the next form of life… Or death.

Mab took her time strolling around, scrutinizing the spacious dojo-like room and examining every weapon hung on the wall put on display.

"Choose a weapon of your own," Barrow had said. "Something worthy."

The young raven-haired girl glanced over her shoulder at Tai who enthusiastically ran from wall to wall, touching everything he liked which were mostly much-too-big-for-him swords. She sighed at his reckless impoliteness.

Barrow was casually standing off the side, carefully keeping an eye for Tai's unruly behavior and her own quiet but unpredictable character.

His hazel ones catching her bi-colored eyes for a second, Mab quickly snapped her gaze back at the wall full of armor pieces in front of her. Absentmindedly, Mab nervously reached out a quivering hand and grasped the nearest gauntlet which shined in embossed silver.

Long, thin clawed metal hugged her fingers as she strapped it on and layers of protective armor clung to her forearm. She quickly fell in love with it. No bulky swords, nothing heavy, and no other weapons that I had to struggle to carry. A small, light weapon like a gauntlet is perfect.

"Hey, Tai, come look at this," Mab called excitedly over her scrawny shoulder. She could hear him walk over and hear the cackling of a smile appearing on his face.

"That's not a weapon, Mab!" Tai exclaimed as if she were dumb. "That's just armor. Pick or sword or something. Watch, Mab…" As an example, he jogged over to the other side of the room where the majority of dense weapons were held as she watched.

Feeling their teacher's intense and speculative eyes on them, she ignored him and proceeded to watch Tai grip the handle of a rather strangely-shaped and designed sword and swing it in front of him where the very tip pointed to Mab between the eyes. Frowning defensively, she instinctively balled her slender hands into fists and turned to Barrow.

"A gauntlet can be a weapon too, right, Ba-master?!" Mab asked loudly, remembering Leon's order to her and Tai to call him master from now on.

Barrow nodded. "Of course," he claimed in that deep, rumbling voice of his. "If you can design the gauntlet to a greater extent so it can actually cause harm and if you specialize in hand-to-hand combat, that is, which I do not. My strong point is with swords." Mab's face fell and her shoulders slumped at his harsh reality.

The first time Tai and Mab had visited Barrow's "dojo," it was only to meet their new guardian and to explore the training room for a bit and goggle at the wide selection of weaponry. Tai had kept touching and poking the gleaming and dangerously-looking swords while Mab maintained a safe distance and scrutinized them with her hard eyes.

Stepping through the door to Barrow's training room, she had already known it just wouldn't work for her. Ever since she was a child, her body had always been ridiculously weak even though her shape and weight was perfectly average.

Releasing a disappointed sigh, remembrance of last week's incident resulting in getting a check-up from a local doctor with Leon came back to her. Her green and blue eyes did not waver nor showed any sign of going back to normal. Whenever she went out, people would strangely eye her up and down.

"Don't pay any attention to them," Leon had whispered soothingly in her ear, laying a consoling hand on her head, "They fear you because you're different. And also jealousy for your eyes."

That had made Mab smile shyly, making her day. She knew that brotherly behavior from Leon was a once-in-a-lifetime-thing and she was truly grateful for ever meeting him.

But Leon isn't here to help her. She's alone.

"Then why do you have these things here?" Mab pressed, pointing to the non-sword weaponry like sickles, spears, and gauntlets on the wall beside her.

"They're merely for show," Barrow replied coolly, approaching her. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mab. Give it a chance and then you can think further of it, alright?" She nodded at the truth and fairness behind his words.

"Alright," Mab murmured, knowing Tai will tease her, taunt her, and laugh at her when they'd start training.

Looking up at her teacher, she saw a very small but still noticeable smile on his aging face and she felt somewhat comforted by his hidden kindness. Much to Mab's surprise, Barrow affectionately ruffled her hair as if to a young child.

"Keep the gauntlet," Barrow said, looking to Tai who had dropped a humungous sword, "It'll come in handy some time and you'll find a use for it." That said, he walked away to scold Tai for his troublemaking and left Mab alone to her thoughts.

Trying to rid of her frustration of a world that's not her own, Mab began to stroll around the large room after setting the gauntlet back for now. Throwing needles came to her liking, swords very much alike to Cloud's tired her just looking at them, and daggers seemed like fun but it was something else that caught her attention.

In the farthest corner of the maze-like building where sound seemed inexistent, where a thick layer of dust embellished rusting, dented weapons were hung for display like the rest. Mab found herself walking deeper into the silent corner of the labyrinth that was this intricate underground building.

She noticed small, and dusty, captions under each rusty piece of weaponry. Some had peculiar dates but most had names, of the weapon or the master, Mab didn't know. She guessed this was a miniature museum by Barrow.

A sword shaped strangely similar to a very sharp capital 'J' enraptured Mab's curiosity and she stepped closer to it to read the caption underneath it. Squinting her eyes against the dust where it proved useless, Mab swiped it off with her fingertips until she could see the letters clearly and finally read it.

_Kolbe_

_Ethereal_

_3009 B.D._

Brows furrowed in confusion, Mab surmised "Kolbe" was the name of a warrior who named his trusty blade Ethereal. But the date, which she thought was a date, 3009 B.D. really baffled her.

Sighing at all the differences between home and here, Mab chose to ignore it and try not to think much of it or else her curiosity would get the better of her like it usually did. But it was much too late.

Mab then noticed some sort of mark behind the sword called Ethereal. Curious, she gently slid the handle to the side to take a better look and was puzzled to find scars razed on the wood. It wasn't all that big but it did bring horrid thoughts.

_It's like Freddy versus Jason or something_, Mab laughed inwardly. _The scar's three claws anyway, so I say it's Wolverine._

She touched the age-old scars on the wood and thoughtfully traced her fingers along it as she felt loose splinters prick at the sensitive skin of her fingertips. Her fingers lead her eyes higher until she noticed dark smudges and spots along the clawed scars.

Now with her curiosity beyond restraint, Mab neared her nose closer to the smudge where she had to stand on her toes, somewhat embarrassed. She took a careful sniff and only smelled rotting wood with a little bit of a fading scent that was once strong…

**Blood.** It was blood!

Frightened, Mab jumped back and the strange sword that once belonged to a dead warrior named Kolbe clattered to the floor noisily. She looked around to check if Tai or Barrow had heard anything. Seeing as no rushing footsteps or worried cries were heard, Mab relaxed and picked the sword back up and set it were had been on the wall, concealing the mysterious, stained scar.

A bit shaken by the fact that something had happened here some time ago, a motivated Mab continued to stroll deeper into the concave corner. Dead names jumped at her, taunting her.

Kolbe. Anakin. Strange names like Kilo, Cambrik, and Valsyr.

If she kept thinking of it, sooner or later she would've thought it all meaningless. But this was different. Something had triggered a tragic event. So Traverse Town has secrets of its own.

_And I bet it's got something to do with the Heartless._

"Mab, what are you doing?"

Twirling around at the unexpected welcome, Mab finds a smirking Tai. She opened her mouth to shush him but he continued to run his big mouth.

"Ooh, Mab, you're gonna' get in so much trouble!" Tai teased further, taking a few steps closer to her. "Lucky for you, there were some noises coming from outside so he left for a bit to check it out."

She breathed a sigh of relief. What noises?

"Noises? What kind of noises?" Mab asked interestedly. So many things seem to be being discovered in short time.

As an answer, Tai shrugged a shoulder. "I dunno. Like lots of running and thumping on the ground on top of us."

Mab made a thoughtful scrutinizing expression, completely forgetting about her previous discovery of a not-so-ancient battle. Running? Thumping?

Right then, a strikingly forceful impact fell on the ground above their heads, shaking the earth and ultimately caused the showcase of weaponry to clatter and jingle simultaneously.

"What was that?" Mab whispered loudly, beginning to feel a bit freaked out.

"Who knows?" Tai shrugged, grinning without a care. "Maybe it's Heartless. So what is this place?" Mab angrily glared at him at his attitude without him even noticing as he looked around the underground maze that is this training grounds.

"Can't you at least worry a bit, Tai?" Mab felt like screaming. "Did you not freakin' see the bodies laying around town after the Heartless ate their hearts?!"

Suddenly turning his attention to her, Mab was surprised to see Tai with such a serious and hurt face. "I'm not a kid, Mab! I'm just as scared as you are!" In moments, his bellowing expression turned into one that of guilt. "Mab, I-I'm sorry—"

"No, no," Mab said forcefully and angrily, cutting him off, "Glad to know. But I'm sorry, too." The last part was a bit tough to say but she knew she had been a bit hard on him the past few days. "I've been really uptight lately, I know. It's just that…"

"Yeah." Tai sighed, "I feel as if I have to be the happy one since you're always the one carrying the burden of the world." He looked at his life-long friend who held an expression of mixed feelings. "I mean, you're always worrying about everyone else that you never remember about yourself. And then you've been having these weird nightmares about the Heartless calling you to them [1] and then your eyes—"

"Mab! Tai!!"

"Leon?" Tai murmured quizzically to himself. "What's he doing here?" With that, he marched back to the main room where heavy, rushed strides could be heard getting closer.

"Mab! Are you two there?!" Leon's voice sounded anxious and wheezy.

"We're right here," Mab called from behind Tai. They had now emerged from around the corner to see a huffing Leon standing before them.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Leon asked, quickly approaching them and setting his hands on each of their shoulders. He looked at them straight in the eye and panic began to quickly settle in Tai.

"What's going on?" Tai asked, unbelievably confused as Mab was. Before the two teens knew it, Leon had begun to shove them deeper into the underground structure.

"Heartless are attacking Traverse Town. Hundreds of them," the gunslinger quickly explained, leading them past the weaponry memorials Mab had been looking at only moments before and deeper below the earth she could've possibly imagined.

They went through doors Tai had never noticed before and turns Mab was sure were constructed to fool the human eye. Eventually, the walls of weapons faltered and murky rock replaced them. "I'm taking you to a safe place where you will stay together until the fight's over. Once it is, I will come back to get you, understood?"

Mab's solitary nod relaxed Leon's nerves a bit. She was the sensible and obedient one of the two and probably the only one he trusted to keep the rowdy Tai in check. Finally, they reached a pair of tall double doors. Leon struggled to pull it open even for a few inches so Tai and Mab could squeeze in.

"Get in," Leon told them and they did. As the gunslinger struggled to close it again, he continued, "I'll come back in an hour or two." He paused and looked at them straight in the eye through the crack of the door. "And whatever happens, don't leave this room." And he was gone with the stone doors completely closed.

Sighing, Mab looked around the room. She looked calm and collected in Tai's eyes but he knew her long enough to know she was panicking and scared out of her wits in the inside.

The room Leon had dropped them off must have been an old, fancy bedroom left deserted for centuries because it had a giant bed, elegant gas lamps, a glamorous vanity and other furniture.

"Who would've thought there'd be such a fancy bedroom underground," Tai commented, plopping himself on the ultra king-sized bed. On his impact, dust flew up considerably all around him, making Tai cough and choke.

Mab rolled her eyes. Taking the bedroom's appearance all in, it was then that she noticed how ugly it really was. Cobwebs in the corners, rotting wood most likely from termites, and a dingy, brackish odor in the atmosphere.

"Do you smell that?" Mab questioned a still-wheezing Tai.

"Smell what?" Tai retorted who was going through the drawers of the bedside tables, a bit annoyed by his aging surroundings. He sniffed the air and his face contorted in disgust after a few moments. "Gross, smells like sewage. Kinda' like an really, really old water or something."

Something clicked in Mab's head. "The secret waterway!" she exclaimed to Tai who raised an eyebrow at her outburst. "Don't you get it? We're underground, aren't we? This room must be connected somehow to the waterway where Leon trains. It's just across the district anyway."

"Makes sense," Tai said, looking around excitedly. "So how do we get there?"

Mab frowned unexpectedly. "Get there? We're not going, Tai. Leon told us to stay here, remember?"

"Yeah," Tai argued, setting his hands on his hips, "But then why would he put us in this room out of all the others?"

"Because of the thick-ass doors," Mab responded, pointing to the double doors made of stone. "Both of us alone wouldn't be able to move it."

"Yes, we could!" Tai protested.

Mab angrily cut him off. "That's not the point! We stay here. Period." She cross her arms in a huff and looked away. "I shouldn't have said anything…"

Tai glared at her and went back to being nosy through the drawers. He was looking for anything valuable since he and Mab would need it, maybe he could keep something as a memory or just anything of use. But mostly he found scrolls with writing in an alien language. He knew Mab would definitely be intrigued by what it really said but he was mad enough to keep her away.

He glanced at her across the room. She was sitting on the stool in front of the vanity whose large mirror was blurry due to layers of dust, nervously fiddling with her necklace. That was her most precious possession, a relic from her mother.

Sighing, he returned to his digging and found a book. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it. It was sort of small with a sturdy bind and hardcover. He flipped it open and sneezed at the dust that flew in his face. Flipping through the pages at a quick speed, he saw it was written in the same foreign language but other things caught his eye. There were drawings, diagrams, and other little sketches of many different Keyblades that he'd never seen before.

"Hey, Mab, come look at this," Tai called over his shoulder, eyes still glued to the book.

Mab sauntered over, standing by his side. Tai opened up the book in her face, featuring a detailed diagram of a Keyblade that had Gothic designs. Mab hesitantly took the book in her hands and gazed at it, ever curious.

"I've never seen this one before," Mab murmured and Tai agreed with an eager nod.

"Go on, look through it," Tai urged her. If he couldn't tell anything about it, Mab could.

Glancing at him wearily, Mab flipped through it, pausing every now and then and examining it closely. "It looks like…a journal. See here?" Her slender fingers pointed at the top-left corner at the page where it was written '1623 B.D.' "That's a date, I know it is. It's written in the Common Tongue, too—"

"—What? Common Tongue?" Tai asked, genuinely confused.

"Honestly!" Mab snapped at him. "Don't you ever listen to what Aerith and Leon say?"

"Nope!" Tai quipped, grinning stupidly.

Mab rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day. "From what they've told me is that the reason why you still understand one another when you land in another world and communicate with the people there is because of the power and magic of the Keyblade. Now you gotta remember that the ones who traveled world to world where the Keyblade Masters and the Heartless and others like that with some special help. So it's some sort of magic. Are you with me so far?"

Tai scrunched his face and made a motion with his hand, saying 'more or less.'

"Okay, let me rephrase this for you," she said, clearing her thought loudly. Then she sucked in a huge breath and screamed in his face. "It's the magic, you moron!" Tai was blown away but only squeaked an 'okay, got it.'

"Now," Mab continued, calming down, "Merlin has a theory that that language is the universal language of Kingdom Hearts, hence Common Tongue. Understand?" Tai nodded intently. "Kind of like English. Like we have French and Spanish and German in high school, everyone still has English."

"But what about the people who don't have a Keyblade or aren't tainted by the Darkness?" Tai asked thoughtfully.

Mab sighed, contemplating it in her head. "People don't have spaceships to move to another world so the people who do end up somehow moving are…" A pained look came about on Mab's expression. "It's the Darkness again, Tai. The people who survive the destruction of their worlds always have some sort of chip of Darkness in them so I guess that's it…"

"Oh," Tai mouthed sadly. "But what about gummi ships?"

A bit exhausted by all the thinking, Mab sat cross-legged on the floor and Tai soon joined her. "I dunno, Tai. It's all so confusing. Nothing ever seems to make sense anymore," she whispered miserably. "I just wanna go home. I regret ever getting myself in too deep into something that's not real."

Saddened, Tai wrapped his hand over hears and squeezed it reassuringly. "It's real now, isn't it?" Mab didn't answer but buried her face into her knees. "Don't worry, we'll get out of this together."

"Mm," she mumbled. Then she looked up to Tai with a thoughtful frown on her face. "Maybe the gummi blocks have a magic of their own. Remember when Cid said that they just came out of nowhere when people first discovered them? What if they're a part of the magic of Kingdom Hearts?"

"Makes sense to me," Tai commented. But he was more worried about Mab than Kingdom Hearts right then.

Sullenly, Mab murmured an agreement. If there was anything reckless she would so desperately want to do before she'd depart from this warped dream would be to able to meet and somehow share day a day with Riku. Maybe that would make everything bearable.

It's not that she hated the world of Kingdom Hearts now, it's that she had expected it to be all light and fun like in the game. A happy ending. Isn't that what Sora does every day? Give everyone a happy ending? But thinking about it a bit more, she realizes that's not quite what the Keyblade Master really goes through everyday. It must be much worse than what she and Tai are going through. Being the Chosen One and carrying such a heavy burden of expectations…

"Anywho, look at what I found," Tai announced, presenting a silver object before her. It was a wonderfully artistic, antique-looking handgun that looked as if it came right out of The Pirates of the Caribbean. "It was in one of the drawers next to the bed."

Awe-stricken, Mab made a grab for it but realized she still had the gauntlet secure to her forearm. It was almost as if the armor was already a part of her. Without hesitating, she grabbed the gun in her armored hand which was her right and aimed it at the stone door in front of them. Surprisingly, the pistol fit perfectly in her hand, wrapped securely under her silver, gleaming claws.

Like they were made for each other.

"Holy crap," Tai laughed, "You look hot, Mab!"

"Are you saying I can't look hot?" Mab boasted, smirking.

"Well, no," Tai answered, rolling his eyes, "You're practically my sister." They sniggered. Tai then pointed to the stone door. "C'mon, shoot it, Mab."

"Are you kidding me?" Mab chastised. "What if Heartless hear it and come after us? You're insane, Tai!"

But Tai only rolled his eyes and snatched the gun out of Mab's hands as she was leaning over to put it back in the creaky, dusty drawer.

"Hey!" Mab snapped.

"C'mon, Mab! Did you see how thick those doors are? And they're stone!" he said teasingly. "Shoot it!"

But Mab couldn't resist. Smirking, she took the gun from Tai's outstretched hand and aimed it at the door once again. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins and a bead of sweat rolled down Mab's brow. But in the end, Mab's finger finally let itself pull the trigger and an ear-racking noise shattered the silence of the underground room.

Flinching, Mab released the gun out of shock and it toppled to the ground as Tai quickly reached to catch it. Tai caught it just in time as it slid any farther from where they sat.

"Whoa," Mab breathed, releasing air she didn't know she was holding in. She had no idea it would be so loud.

"Yeah, whoa," Tai agreed, breaking into a grin. But it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a worried frown. "You don't think they heard that, did you?" She knew what 'they' he was referring to.

"I doubt it," Mab said, taking the gun from Tai's hands. "We know they haven't entered the dojo and we're in too deep underground."

Tai let out a sigh of relief. Her words always reassured him, even if they weren't always the truth. But suddenly, a rapid tapping, screeching sound could be heard, slightly echoing against the stone, dirty walls.

Mab sucked in her breath and Tai stiffened up at the frightening, bone-schilling sounds.

"Do you hear that?" Tai whispered frightened, "Or is that just me?"

"No, I hear it too," Mab whispered back, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

Dark shapes as black as ink began to trickle through the cracks of the door and into the room. Mab and Tai slowly crept closer together as the fear in them began t grow dramatically. In moments, the eerily familiar blobs began to form into…

It was then that Mab released an ear-shattering scream.

* * *


End file.
